What we’re reading (6/28)

The latest:

• “Dollar General is Cheap, Popular and Spreading Across America. It’s Also a Robbery Magnet, Policy Says” (CNN). DG’s stock profits have quintupled and its stock has risen 800 percent since 2010, but apparently it’s a hotbed of armed crime. ‘“It’s a low margin business, so you have to have low labor [costs] to make a profit,” said one of the former executives. “Putting more labor in stores took away from the profit, or you have to raise prices. And there was no appetite to raise prices because it’s a low-price business.”’

• “Americans' Paychecks are Getting Smaller, but Their Spending is Soaring. Huh?” (CNN). April spending was down (read: fear), but can only cut so much so month-over-month May was way up.

• “‘We Are Definitely Not Out of the Woods” (DealBook). Per Gita Gopinath, Chief IMF economist, “[t]his is a crisis like no other and will have a recovery like no other.” That follows a GDP forecast cut by the Fund, which issues closely-watched global growth projections.

• “Credit Card Industry Reins in Balance-Transfer Offers as Banks from JPMorgan to Amex Fear Defaults” (CNBC). Banks have traditionally offered special temporary zero-interest payment periods to credit card customers willing to transfer funds to their bank as a credit card promotion option. These options have been “sharply reduced” lately at the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Citi, BofA, Barclays, and CapOne (Amex dropped it altogether) after they got burned in the last crisis by customers transferring and subsequently defaulting.

• “Zuckerberg Loses $7 Billion as Firms Boycott Facebook Ads” (MSN Money). A little more coverage of American enterprises urging a private entity to policy speech on its private platform. Apparently, FB down +8 percent on Friday means Zuck lost 8 big ones. Tough nuggies, Zuck!